Examples of the present disclosure relate to a connector or spacer for use within an electronic assembly to provide mounting and fixation capability in general for any kind of daughter cards, specifically a double-threaded connector or spacer.
Electronic devices and electronic assemblies often have a modular concept. The benefit of a modular concept is flexibility and specialization. For example, an Industrial Personal Computer (IPC), may be constructed and designed either with a monolithic PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) or may have modularity. One example of a modular design may have a (Computer-on-Module) COM Express® Module, a carrier (e.g., a PCBA), which may provide Input/Output (10) connectivity, and various daughter cards.
FIG. 1 illustrates examples of a standard daughter M.2 modules, which are merely provided herein for reference, but the disclosure is not limited to use only with M.2 modules. That is, the principles described herein may applicable to any daughter module installation on a carrier. M.2 modules are available in different sizes, such as 42 mm, 60 m and 80 mm. The modularity and the exchangeability are great advantages of those modules.
FIG. 2 illustrates the installation of a module to a carrier. The fixation of the exemplary module is realized with a solder in nut and a screw, which clamps the module. That is, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 2, a carrier, e.g., a printed circuit board (PCB) 210 includes plurality of components, including plurality of mounting holes 214. The mounting holes 214 have different locations on the PCB 210 to accommodate different sized modules. To mount an exemplary module 212 on the PCB, an “off the shelf” solder in nut is installed using a surface-mount technology (SMT) soldering process. In such process, solder in nut 216 is provided in the PCB 210 for the mounting of the module. The module 212, which may include a half-circle cut out at one end for mounting, is placed to abut the nut, pressed into place, and a screw 218 is inserted into the nut to secure the module.
This is approach works well as long the size of module required is known in advance of the SMT soldering process. For example, it is difficult to exchange a module once it is installed to replace it with a module of a different size, e.g., for a larger or smaller module. The difficulty arises because the solder in nut would need to be moved in order to the position the new module of different size. Such solder removal is nearly impossible to do in the field and could result in damage to the module, the board or the nut. Therefore, such “in-the-field” module change is impractical. Moreover, it is difficult to provide in advance all the solder in nuts in the board to accommodate later module change because the provided solder in nuts would interfere with the location and positioning of the modules. Other solutions on the market with spacers and nuts are not user-friendly because they require access from both sides of the carrier.